The Black Lily
by A Tengu Reporter
Summary: She was a small-time con artist-or at least she considered herself one-and she eventually managed to leave Liberty City. And now that she'd moved to San Andreas, she just couldn't wait to find out what awaited her here.


**Disclaimer:** I don't own GTA. Rockstar does. However, the original characters present here are, rest assured, mine.

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**Chapter One**

He was pretty short, average in build, and just as scruffy as any of those drug dealers she'd seen. He was wearing a hoodie, too, which made discerning his face a little harder than usual.

But for sure, she never saw him before.

That was actually a very good thing.

Lilith Hei tucked a stray lock of black hair behind her ear as her chocolate-brown eyes were continually glued to the man, pulled down her tank top a little lower, and began sauntering towards him with a smile on her face. A smile that was pretty much open to any meaning.

His most recent customer, seemingly someone from one of those mob families, had just left pocketing something inside his coat. Probably a bag of cocaine. To be doing it out here in the open, though… even for a place like Liberty City, it was a pretty bold move, even for them. Some of the police might be corrupt, but they still caught the scumbags they came across in the streets.

"Hey." She greeted as she stopped a couple feet away from him, but as the drug dealer turned her way, he gave her a quick once-over before regarding her suspiciously. She blinked at him curiously for that.

Well… that was pretty unexpected. Nothing too offending—she wasn't aiming to be attractive anyway, just charming enough to dull his mind a bit—but she really didn't see that coming. Usually they either gave her that weird, glazed expression before snapping back to business. Like, that look that pretty much said that she was eye-catching, and she was someone worth giving attention to. But because this person reacted differently, did that mean she should just give up, say "never mind" and turn away before things got awry?

Oh hell, no.

Lilith Hei did _not_ turn down a challenge.

"If you're just gonna try pulling that kind of shit… lady, I'm telling you to go. I'm not cheating on my girlfriend!" He said then. Lilith almost wanted to laugh at the outburst.

Apparently, the guy was loyal enough to his girl, but he still pretty much kept screwing himself over by continually selling drugs under the LCPD's nose. Maybe he'd taken a couple of those drugs too; that would explain why he was looking pretty jumpy as soon as he saw her. It was so random. But okay, she didn't have any qualms about that. His life was his life, and she wouldn't bother him with that.

But she still had something to get from the guy, and she wasn't going to get it any other way.

Lilith raised her hands in mock surrender. "Will you please hear me out for one second? I'm not here because I need a sleeping buddy. I'm just here because _I need_ _your help_."

If anything, the look he gave her was even more dubious than ever. Her hands unconsciously fixed her tank top a bit after that.

"Oh yeah?" He replied. "You look pretty capable of lotsa stuff. Why'd you need help from me of all people? Besides, you look more like you belong with the Triads. Bad experience, don't want to deal with them anymore."

Well, she had to admit to herself, she _could_ pass off as a Triad member. Maybe she would the next time she was pulling this crap again. Although, he wasn't far off in thinking that she had any involvement with the Triads. She had, until a certain in event in her past occurred and made her want to forget and move on.

Lilith shook her head and put back her smile that she thought was pretty convincing. "Rest assured, I'm not one of them. I mean, I'm just… a girl needing some help." She then gingerly placed a hand on his arm and immediately felt him go stiff. She made sure to look into his eyes deeply enough that she'd get the intended effect. His reaction priceless; it was like that of a fortress wall cracking down with the way a slight panic crossed his features. "You don't really have to make this difficult—I'm serious about needing help. Just a couple minutes of your time, and then I'm out of your life forever. How about that? Please?"

It took a moment for the drug dealer to think before he finally shrugged and nodded. Lilith visibly brightened at the response and quickly pulled back her arm and let it rest on her side.

"Well, then, here I go… It's just a very simple thing. I just needed someone to get rid of this shoebox filled with ecstasy that I stashed in that dumpster over there by the alley." She said and pointed to a narrow alley between two decrepit buildings. One was even condemned already, conspicuous sign and all, due for demolition anytime now. The other just looked like it could fall apart like a pack of cards.

When the man looked incredulous, most likely thinking it was a pretty terrible place to stash some drugs, she lightly frowned. "It's just an illusion. Those two buildings are incredibly sturdy for buildings with that state, otherwise I would've been buried alive sometime ago."

He was back to the expression he wore when he met her a few minutes ago, albeit a little more annoyed this time. "Fine! Just go grab it, and we can get this over with!"

Lilith nodded in response, turned around and took a step towards the alley, but then she froze, and turned back to the dealer. Little had the man known that it was all an act. "Um, just one last thing." She said. "I mean… seriously, people would be all, 'What is this girl thinking, running to an alley?' and then they'd call me, get my attention, and I'll never be able to get those drugs. So maybe you can go grab it for me instead? I'll be the lookout for the cops."

The drug dealer looked like he wanted to say that she was being ridiculous, that she was crazy… that he might as well shoot her in the head, get away, and finally be relieved of a nuisance. But instead, he let out what sounded like a groan of exasperation and told Lilith to be quick or else he wasn't going to think twice about killing her using the pistol he had with him.

Of course, she was happy to agree. It was all according to plan—or at least she thought so, because she felt more like she was making up things as she went along at the moment.

However, she knew her time to _really_ act was coming now.

As the man pulled the dumpster's lid open and bent over to start rummaging for the shoebox, Lilith had quietly crept closer, placing herself directly behind him. Her breathing was light, her right fist curling into a fist. Her expression grew blank as she began watching him look for something that was never there in the first place.

She saw his head rise slightly and he questioned her if this was the right dumpster, but then…

"About that…" Lilith said simply. "I lied."

As quick as lightning, she punched him at the back of his head before he could react, punched hard enough to knock him out. He let out a groan, slumped down, and went limp.

Without skipping a beat, all the while ignoring her aching fist, Lilith knelt down and plunged her hand into the guy's bulging pocket she spotted earlier on. That was the main thing that caught her attention, after all.

A small smirk on her face appeared as she pulled out what seemed to be two stacks of several hundred dollars. This was exactly what she'd been aiming for—the cash.

But of course, she was kind enough to leave the guy at least around three hundred bucks for getting back on track. He did her a favor, after all, and favors should be rewarded, right?

She quickly shoved down the cash on the small pouch strapped around her as she stood up. Before moving away from the alley, she turned her head a bit towards the fainted man, a slightly apologetic look on her face.

"Sorry about that," she murmured. "I'll be out of everyone's hair soon enough. I'm just as sick of this place as everyone else."

With that, she left. The afternoon sun was still pretty high up in the sky as she weaved through the people out in the streets, all having their own places to go to and businesses to mind. She was sure that most were about to head home, though. Noon could only last for so long, and there was no way they'd be caught outside during the night. For most of them, at least.

As she walked further away, her apartment as the destination in mind, she lightly patted her bag with a smile back on her face. If her guess was right, she should have made off with enough hundred dollars to finally complete the amount of cash she'd been saving and acquiring for the past couple of months.

Now all she had to do now was finish some arrangements, and then she'd be good to go.

But before she could make one last turn to walk the last stretch leading to her apartment and finish everything else, she heard the click of a gun's safety switch going off behind her. She immediately stopped in her tracks.

"That's right, just stay where you are." She heard him say.

Her stomach did a flip as she realized who it was. She didn't dare turn her head to see to confirm her suspicions. In fact, she didn't move at all, at the same time cursing mentally at the fact that she didn't bring her own gun today. _Of all days I thought I didn't need a sidearm, bad luck strikes and decides that today should be a good day to show that I need it. This sucks._

"You going to be cooperative after all? Then, good. Now all you gotta do… is turn around and face me. And I promise I won't blow off that pretty face of yours. _Now do it."_

Lilith put on a poker face and turned.

As she locked gazes with the gun-toting man behind her, she realized that wasn't out of the woods quite yet.

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**A/N: Honestly, I still don't know where I'm going with this. I have something in mind, but I'm not really sure how it's going to pan out in the long run (I'm not even sure if I'll even be *that* dedicated to completing this story, seeing that I've left a trail of unfinished ones on my profile, too). Let's just see where this heads to as I make up stuff along the way, alright? Please don't hesitate to review and point out any errors if it exists, I'd love me some feedback. c: **


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